A year ago today, a church janitor and his wife stood outside Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in East San Jose, rocking a crying newborn baby boy just abandoned in a duffel bag outside the church.

As the wife started singing a gentle lullaby, the baby – just hours old – stopped crying, opened his dark brown eyes and looked right at her.

That’s when she knew that her years of praying for a child were over.

“That’s a gift from God,” she said.

This morning, during the 8 a.m. Mass, the baby boy was baptized in the same church where he was found. But unlike a year ago, he was held by a couple he calls
He was embraced today not only by his new parents, but by members of the tight-knit Our Lady of Guadalupe congregation who consider him the “baby of the whole community.”

With 300 members of the parish joining in the celebration this morning, he was christened “Jesus Guadalupe.”

“It’s just about fate,” said Father Javier Reyes, parish pastor. “Since the beginning, they thought God sent him to them. They are really good parents. You can just see how they love him, how they really worry about him and give the best for him.”

The adoptive parents are Rogelio and Gloria Esther, a couple who are afraid to have their last names printed until the adoption is final, afraid that the birth mother who hasn’t been identified might find them and want the baby back.

But above all, the couple feel a great sense of joy. They have waited so long for this.

During their 12 years of marriage, Gloria underwent five operations to open her fallopian tubes. Through the years, they twice started an adoption process, but Rogelio couldn’t stick with the months of classes and paperwork. He already had children from a previous marriage.

Gloria – who works part time at the church setting up flowers on the altar, organizing fund-raisers and delivering meals to the sick – prayed at daily Mass to God to “fill the emptiness.”

“Three years ago, I dreamed that the Virgin said, `Don’t worry, this is my son,'” Gloria said. In her dream, the Virgin Mary placed her hand on the back of a toddler and pushed him toward her.

Gloria found comfort in the Bible story of Sarah and Abraham, a couple who in the story didn’t conceive a child until Sarah was at least 70. Gloria won’t reveal her age, perhaps she is 50. She says she has been a member of the congregation for 40 years.

On Jan. 31 last year, Rogelio went to work at the church at 6 a.m. as he did every day. At about 6:30, he noticed a black duffel bag on the bench in front of the church. He looked inside and saw only a jacket and socks. He was going to throw it away, but thought he’d leave it in the gazebo, where the homeless sometimes gather. Someone might want the jacket, he thought, and he went about his work.

Gloria arrived at 7 a.m. to prepare the chapel for the 8 a.m. Mass. And as always when Mass began, she sat in the front row.

At 8:15, Rogelio cracked open thesacristy door and beckoned his wife out of her seat.

“Come!” he said.

A homeless man had found the bag, and something was crying inside. A baby boy.

Gloria rushed to it and looked inside. She saw little white legs at first, a freshly cut umbilical cord and a face still wet with blood.

She was scared at first. Rogelio was, too.

But the baby was crying. Gloria picked up the whole bag and began rocking the baby inside.

When the police arrived, Gloria couldn’t help but ask: “Isn’t it true, when we find something, it’s ours?”

The baby was taken to a hospital and was put in the hands of social services. She started the foster family and adoption processes. This time, both Gloria and Rogelio attended every class and filled out every piece of paperwork.

Numerous members of the congregation wrote letters recommending the couple be chosen as parents. “They are a loving family. Words can not explain what they’ve done for this community. It makes it all whole,” said Connie Torres, a member of the church staff and congregation.

The baby “is loved by this whole community. It’s the best thing that’s happened to us. It’s just so beautiful that he can be part of us,” she said.

For his first six months, the baby lived with a foster family in Gilroy. In June, he moved into Gloria and Rogelio’s home close to the church.

This morning, Jesus Guadalupe will be baptized with priests and social workers as his godparents.

A procession of little girls wearing blue dresses followed the baby in the arms of his godmotherto the side of the church, to the painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe. With hundreds of little candles flickering around them, they placed roses at her feet.

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